1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to a medical catheter assembly, and, more particularly relates to a hemodialysis catheter including a valve adapted to minimize the risk of occlusion of the catheter's lumens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Catheters are flexible medical instruments intended for the withdrawal and introduction of fluids relative to body cavities, ducts, and vessels. Catheter instrumentation may have particular application in a hemodialysis procedure where blood is withdrawn from a blood vessel for treatment, and subsequently returned to the blood vessel for circulation. Known hemodialysis catheters include multiple lumens, such as dual lumen or triple-lumen catheters, permitting bi-directional fluid flow within the catheter whereby one lumen is dedicated for withdrawal of blood and the other lumen is dedicated for returning the treated blood to the vessel. During an exemplary hemodialysis procedure, a multiple lumen catheter is inserted into a body and blood is withdrawn through an arterial lumen of the catheter. The removed blood is directed to a hemodialysis machine which dialyzes, or purifies, the blood to remove waste, and toxins. The dialyzed blood is returned to the patient through a venous lumen of the catheter.
One complication associated with known hemodialysis catheters concerns occlusion of the arterial lumen, particularly, positional occlusion of the tip of the catheter with the vessel wall. Positional occlusion may occur as a result of the catheter tip being pressed into a vessel wall and subsequent invagination of the vessel intima into one of the catheter lumens. When the inflow port is positionally occluded, a vacuum is created in the arterial lumen of the catheter, further drawing the vessel wall into the arterial lumen.
As a result, the clinician must address the interruption in blood flow to allow continuance of patient treatment. One solution for resolving positional occlusion is to reverse flow of the lumens of the catheter. However, reversing the flow with the lumens of the catheter involves decoupling and recoupling the lines, increases clinician handling of the catheter and increases the opportunity for microbial contamination and infection, as well as extending the time of the dialysis treatment. This results in various drawbacks including increased cost and discomfort for the patient.